Live the Dream (28 page)

Amy laughed out loud. 'I love it!' Taking Johnny's hand, she walked towards the cabin, her eager gaze enveloping it. 'And you say you built all this, on your own?'

'That's right.' Walking beside her, the can of paraffin in one fist, Luke spread the other large, capable hand before him. 'Built it with my own two hands, a great deal of cursing and God knows how many mistakes, before it all finally seemed to fall into place.'

Climbing the steps he led them onto the veranda. 'It's not what you might call grand,' he warned, 'but it does for me.'

Leaving Amy and the boy to take in the view from the veranda, he quickly hurried inside the cabin, where he surreptitiously slid Amy's portrait from the wall and hid it, back outwards, behind a large basket of kindling wood. Then he opened the many shutters to let a measure of light inside, before lighting the fire in the hearth. Soon the flames were licking and spitting and, to be safe, he arranged the fire screen across it.

'There,' he said. 'It'll soon be warm as toast in here.'

'I can understand why you've kept all this to yourself.' Amy had never encountered anything like this place. Deep in the heart of the forest, it was like something out of a fairy tale. 'It's so beautiful.'

'I think so too.' Although seeing Amy there in his secret place, having her so near, was another 'beautiful' thing.

'What do you think of my furniture?'

Amy glanced about, surprised at how sparse the cabin was inside. And though the furniture was bulky and slightly crude, it was sturdy and wonderfully unconventional, and it was enough for his needs. 'It isn't what you might call grand,' she said with a wry little smile, 'and I dare say you'd get next to nothing for it at market. But it's kind of special.' Her quiet smile warmed his heart. 'I imagine you spent many long, enjoyable hours putting it all together.'

Deeply moved by her sincere words of approval, Luke sensed something more. He felt a kindred spirit in Amy, a kind of understanding he had not experienced in anyone he had ever known.

Going to the window he gazed out, at
the
forest and the waters beyond and, as always, his heart was uplifted. 'Every time I leave die town behind and come out here, I feel like I've been set free. It's like I belong, if you know what I mean? I feel…part of it all.' He smiled with embarrassment. 'Sorry! You must think I'm some kind of oddity?' How could he expect anyone—even Amy—to understand how he felt?

'I don't think that at all,' Amy answered. 'I think any other man, given the chance, would want the same as you have here.' In fact, there were times, she thought, when she too might have found peace and contentment in this place. One of those times was when Don dashed all her dreams and hopes, and she was as low as a woman could get. When she could see no way forward, the urge to run away and hide had been overwhelming. Was Ben running away, she wondered.

Just then, Johnny came rushing in, and the growing closeness between Amy and Luke was broken. 'Quick! Come and see!' Eyes alight with excitement, he jumped up and down on the spot, the way he did when he was so happy,,he could not contain himself.

When they followed him outside, the excitement turned to disappointment. 'Oh, it's gone now.' Dejected, he sat on the veranda steps, his gaze reaching all around.

Amy and Luke sat down either side of him.

'What was it?' Amy asked. 'What did you see?'

'A dog.' He pointed to the trees. 'It was over there.'

Luke understood. 'That was my friend,' he said, 'the one I told you about. Remember?'

Johnny shook his head. 'No! It were a dog. I saw it, and now it's gone.'

Luke put his fingers to his lips. 'Ssh.' Pointing to the spot Johnny had indicated, he advised, 'If you're very quiet, she'll come back. It's just that she doesn't know you and Amy yet. But she's a curious little thing.'

For long, breathless minutes they sat very still, watching and waiting, until suddenly there she was—the most beautiful creature, slim and elegant, her body brown and dappled and her dark brown eyes wide and her face silky as she gazed at them with nervous curiosity.

She looked at Amy and the boy, and for an instant it seemed as though she might go away, but when Luke dipped into his jacket pocket and held out his hand, she took one hesitant step forward. A wary moment, then she took another. Johnny began to fidget. She stopped, eyes alert and frightened.

Luke whispered for him to stop fidgeting.

Slowly, the creature began to tread its way towards them again. Luke kept his hand stretched out and, murmuring words of persuasion, enticed her nearer, until she was only a step away.

Now, she was nuzzling Luke's hand, her soft, moist nose pushing against his skin and her eyes half closed as she tenderly took the corn treat. Slowly, Luke took Johnny's tiny hand and, bringing it to the creature's head, he tenderly stroked the length of her velvet-soft ears. 'It's all right,' he kept saying, 'it's all right.' And the deer knew they would not hurt her.

After a while she turned and walked away, leaving the three seated on the steps: Luke delighted that she had come out to greet his visitors, and the other two trembling with the wonder of what they had just witnessed.

'See!'Johnny was the first to break the wondrous silence. 'I told you I saw a dog.'

Amy gave him a hug. 'It wasn't a dog,' she said. 'It was a deer.'

'Can I have one?'

'No,' Amy laughed.

'Why not?' As always, Johnny wanted reasons.

'They couldn't live in a house,' Luke told the boy. They're wild, you see? The forest is all they know. It took me an age to gain her trust, and now she comes to see me whenever she can.'

The boy had put two and two together. 'Was that your friend?'

Luke nodded. 'She's my best friend in all the world.'

'Can I see her again?'

Raising his gaze to Amy, Luke answered, 'That's not for me to say. You'll need to ask Amy.'

Amy read his thoughts and her heart turned somersaults. 'We'll see,' she told Johnny. 'For now, though, we'd best be making tracks back to Daisy.'

At that, Luke clambered up. 'Not before you've sampled my tea,' he said hopefully. 'There's plenty of time yet.'

Amy agreed. 'But then we'll have to go,' she finished reluctantly.

Taking a bucket, he walked ahead. 'You can come with me to the brook, if you like?'

And so they went, and Johnny ran on ahead while Luke and Amy talked of the deer, and Luke's cosy cabin, and Amy revealed how pleased she was that he'd asked them along.

As they broke through the woods to emerge near a fast- flowing brook, Luke warned, 'Stay away from the edge, Johnny. It's dangerously slippery underfoot.'

While he filled his bucket with clean fresh water, Amy kept the boy a short distance away. 'I want to live here,' Johnny declared. 'We can bring Mammy and all of us, and make a house like Ben's.'

'That would be nice,' Amy humoured him, 'only we have to work, or we won't have any money.'

'Ben lives here,'Johnny answered. 'He doesn't work, and it's all right.' And the boy's innocent remark got Amy thinking.

On the way back, while Johnny went forward towards the cabin, Amy took the opportunity to ask Luke about himself.

'I think I already mentioned that I work in my parents' shop,' she began.

That's right.'

Curious, but needing to know more about him, Amy asked tentatively, 'Would it be too forward of me to ask, what kind of work
you
do?'

At her question he slowed his step, but he kept his gaze to the ground and remained silent for a time.

Her curiosity had set his mind racing. Should he tell her the truth about himself? And if he was ever going to confide in her, then surely this would be the best chance he might ever get.

But wouldn't that put him in a bad light with her? After all, he had blatantly lied, calling himself by the name of Ben. If he was now to reveal the truth, what would she think of him? What if it turned her against him? Oh, he didn't want that. He would never want that.

Amy waited for his answer. When he was hesitant, she suspected he might be angry that she should have asked about his business, especially when he was so obviously a man who valued his privacy. After all, he was evidently no woodlander but a man of means with a smart motor car and the time and income to indulge himself with this charming grown-up playhouse. Maybe he was well known in Blackburn—he seemed to know Blackburn well—and was hiding a very public identity. Whatever, Amy decided there was no sinister motive—Ben was much too kind for that—so he must just be an intensely private person and she had intruded with her question.

As they reached the clearing, Amy murmured, 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you.'

Luke's answer was curt. 'You didn't offend me.'

Taking hold of Johnny's hand, Amy followed Luke into the cabin. 'I asked what you did for a living, and it's none of my business,' she persisted. 'I had no right to ask. Forget I mentioned it, will you? Please?'

Luke turned to smile at her. 'It's forgotten.'

He then went to the drawer and, taking out a sheaf of drawing paper, gave it to Johnny. 'You can sit at the table and draw if you like?' He had his own reasons for wanting to keep the boy entertained.

Johnny climbed onto the chair. 'What will I draw?'

'Whatever you please. You can draw our little friend with her big soft eyes, or you can draw the boulders with the water tumbling over. It's up to you.'

'I'd like to paddle in that water,'Johnny declared boldly, 'but I might drown! That's what I think.'

Luke laughed out loud. 'You think right!' he said. 'But you won't drown while me and Amy are about, because we'd soon be in the water to get you out. But the water here is fast-flowing and dangerous. The best thing of all is to stay right away from it, at least until you learn to swim.'

While they talked, Amy stayed at the back of the room from where she observed them together. She saw how trusting Johnny was, and recalled how he had taken to Ben from the start. She saw how protective Ben was towards Johnny. And she was deeply moved by it.

When he turned to regard her with that deep, intense gaze, Amy felt her heart turn somersaults.

'Have you

time for a hot drink before you go?' he asked hopefully.

'Thank you, yes. I'd like that.'

She offered to make the tea but he would hear none of it. 'You're my guest,' he said, and quickly set about boiling the water on the paraffin stove.

When the tea was made and he had poured three cups, one of which he left to cool for Johnny, he took the other two and went in search of Amy, who had gone outside.

Seated on the veranda steps, she had one wary eye on Johnny and the other on the distant brook. It was so unbelievably beautiful here, she thought. If she had not known different she could have imagined herself to be anywhere but in the vicinity of Blackburn.

In town, the sky hung low and ominous, while here, the sky seemed far out of reach. In town the streets were lined with lampposts and never a tree in sight, while here the trees stood tall and strong, with their branches stretching all around like a galaxy of giant umbrellas. Then there, just beyond, was the water, just as he had described, 'fast-flowing and dangerous'.

This countryside was all a new and splendid experience to Amy, and there was a glory about it that held her gaze and lifted her soul, and in that moment, in the clear light, with the rustle of leaves and muted winter call of birds, when she seemed so much a part of it, she never wanted to leave. She would be content to stay for ever in this magical place.

Behind her, Luke stood holding the cups, his quiet eyes drinking in the sight of Amy, and his heart more content than he had known in an age. It seemed so right and natural that she should be here, and he could hardly believe it.

All this time he had gazed at her painting and longed to speak with her and share her smile, and now here she was, real and warm, and, if her expression was anything to go by, her heart, like his, was deeply touched by this very special place.

Not wanting to break the silence but knowing he must, he stepped forward and reaching down, handed her the cup of tea. Then he sat beside her.

'Just now, you seemed so far away…deep in thought?'

She nodded, her voice little more than a whisper. 'I was thinking how a body might well want to stay here, and never leave.'

'You're right,' he murmured. 'I've felt that way, since I first came to this little paradise.'

Amy was curious. 'How did you find it?'

He told her about coming here with his grandparents, who had owned the land, in his school holidays, and how the woods had become associated with those carefree times. Here he had learned to fish and survive a day at the hands of nature, to appreciate the beauty and solitude of this lovely part of Lancashire. Now the land was his.

Amy finished the tale for him. 'So, you made this clearing and built your cabin, and now this is where you hide, when the weight of the world weighs you down?'

For a moment he did not answer. He looked into her eyes and there he saw a reflection of his own, deeper feelings. 'I do love it here,' he answered, 'and you're right: this is where I hide.'

He glanced back to see how Johnny was occupied with his drawing. 'Amy?'

'Yes?'

'Must you go?'

'You know I have to.'

'Will you ever come back, do you think?'

Amy shrugged. 'Who knows?'

'But you won't promise?'

'I can't promise.'

She so much wanted to come back here; even to leave little Johnny at home and be here with Ben, just the two of them. But she was afraid of the way he made her feel. There was something about this place, about
him
, that made her wary. She was fond of Jack, but she could not recall ever feeling like this with him. It was strange. And a little frightening.

Finishing her tea, she stood up to place her cup on the handrail. 'It's time we went,' she said.I'll get Johnny.'

As she brushed past him, he caught her by the hand.

'Wait!' A look of anxiety shaded his features. 'There's something you need to know.'